


night go slow

by stupidgaytree



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, New Year's Eve, UPDATE: the new episode isnt amnesty so this fic gets another two week of being canon compliant, but i wanted to Put It Out before the next episode mashes it into the dirt, hi i kept falling asleep while writing this, its entirely unedited, not really but like theyre good friends and then they kiss so, the formatting might be a little weird like i said i was Falling Asleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 10:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16972839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidgaytree/pseuds/stupidgaytree
Summary: New Year's Eve is nice.Aubrey and Jake and Dani spend half an hour in the evening just walking around town, trying their best to be proper menaces. All that really happens is that Mr. Tarkesian grins and waves at them as they poke their heads into the store to say hello, and Jake throws a snowball at a crow and laughs when he misses by a mile, and Aubrey thinks she sees one of the old pool people but he doesn't seem to recognize her. And Dani spends eighty percent of the half-hour holding Aubrey's hand, because she hates the cold and didn't want to walk around in five layers of clothing and apparently Aubrey is very warm.





	night go slow

**Author's Note:**

> there are two possibilities: either i perfectly predicted this coming episode, or griffin and travis are WRONG and have FAILED

New Year's Eve is nice.

Aubrey and Jake and Dani spend half an hour in the evening just walking around town, trying their best to be proper menaces. All that really happens is that Mr. Tarkesian grins and waves at them as they poke their heads into the store to say hello, and Jake throws a snowball at a crow and laughs when he misses by a mile, and Aubrey thinks she sees one of the old pool people but he doesn't seem to recognize her.  And Dani spends eighty percent of the half-hour holding Aubrey's hand, because she hates the cold and didn't want to walk around in five layers of clothing and apparently Aubrey is very warm.

When they're back at the Lodge, at 10:30 p.m., Barclay offers the three of them some hot chocolate from the entire saucepan's worth he's made. Jake drinks his in one gulp and immediately goes to the freezer and pops an ice cube in his mouth, and Barclay sighs before handing mugs to Dani and Aubrey.

"You know where the marshmallows are," he says to Dani, who shrugs at the same moment Aubrey asks, "Where?"

Dani has to let go of Aubrey's hand to pull the bag down from the cupboard, which is okay; holding her mug one-handed was starting to get awkward for Aubrey, and she passes it between them while Dani tears open the plastic.

"Here," she says, and drops two large marshmallows into Aubrey's mug. Aubrey reaches over and takes another one, drops it in, then takes a fourth and shoves it into her mouth whole. Dani laughs, twists the bag closed and puts it away, and Aubrey tries her very best to fake a frown at her with a mouth full of marshmallow.

  
They sit on the couch together and drink their hot chocolate, Aubrey's head on Dani's shoulder as they watch the last hour of the year begin to pass.

"Hey," Dani says, and gives Aubrey a light nudge. "Wanna go out to the spring?"

Aubrey blinks and looks down into her mug.

There's only some dregs left of what had been very good hot chocolate, and Aubrey kind of misses it already. "Now?"

"Yeah, now."

Aubrey hardly hesitates. "Yeah, for sure. Meet you there in five?"

  
Dani nods against her hair, and Aubrey stops by the kitchen to put her mug in the sink before heading for her room. 

"Hey, bud," she says as she passes Dr.  Bonkers, dozing in his bed. He twitches his ears up at her as she rummages around for clothes that are actually okay for being in water.

She turns to him with a sports bra and shorts clutched in her hands. "Would this be weird?"

He snuffles and lays his head back down.

Aubrey nods. "That's true. Swimsuits _are_ just clothes for swimming in."

She changes quickly and stops to scratch between Dr. Bonkers's ears before she leaves.

"Happy New Year, Harris," she tells him, plants a kiss on his forehead, and heads for the hot spring.

Dani is sitting at the edge when she gets there, legs hanging over and submerged to the knee, and she looks up and smiles as Aubrey approaches. "Hello again."

"Fancy meeting you here," Aubrey returns, grinning. She crouches next to Dani and then hops in, cringing at the initial sting of the very, very hot water. Somehow, she didn't expect this.

Behind her, Dani laughs, and it carries through the air in the otherwise empty night. She slides in a few moments later, immediately looking ten times more at ease than Aubrey feels, and leans against the wood that edges the spring.

"So," she says, head tilted upwards, and Aubrey follows her gaze to the stars dotting the sky above.

"So," Aubrey repeats, when Dani doesn't continue her thought. It earns another snort from her, and something warms in Aubrey's chest, even more than the water around her. This is a good night.

They sit and look at the stars in comfortable silence for a little while. Aubrey is anticipating something, but she's not sure what -- maybe the moment when the clock strikes midnight, and the year starts anew. Maybe something a little less cosmic.

"Hey, Aubrey?" Dani says softly, finally.

"What's up?"

"I...." She trails off, and Aubrey thinks for a moment that she's not going to finish, but she picks it back up. "Does it feel like something's starting, to you?"

Aubrey pauses. "Honestly," she says, "Yeah."

"When you started like that, I was expecting something dramatic," Dani says, and Aubrey can hear her smiling. "But -- I just -- ever since you came here, or maybe it's all three of you, I don't know. But -- ever since, things have just been... ramped up, I guess?"

Aubrey turns to look at her now. Dani isn't looking back, but at something on the horizon hidden by the trees, gaze distant and brows furrowed in thought. "Things are -- speeding up. They're  _ really _ happening now. There's a  _ hole _ in the middle of town."

"My bad," Aubrey says. Dani's eyes get less distant as she rolls them.

"I'm just -- it's more dangerous now, yeah, it's scary,  _ yeah _ , but--" She pauses, and Aubrey finds herself holding her breath.

“Everything is changing," she says, slowly, "But I can't help but be glad you're here."

She meets Aubrey's eyes. Now everything is holding its breath, waiting patiently for the next move.

"I am, too," Aubrey says, "I think this is home."

Saying it makes something slide into place. Dani is smiling at her, so widely, so warmly. The light from the Lodge's windows reflects off the water and back on the lodge. The trees all around are not a fence or a wall, but bystanders; elegant people-watchers. She _loves_ it here. She loves _this_. 

"Dani?" she whispers.

"Yeah, Aubs?"

Aubrey leans forward. Hand pressed against Dani's shoulder, other pressed to the wooden wall. Lips so close, so close, too close.

Dani closes the gap. Aubrey closes her eyes.

She hears Jake yelling from the Lodge; it sounds like the New Year is here. She wonders what it means when you start it kissing someone. Like a girl from another planet who makes you feel so at home you could die.

Dani's mouth tastes like hot chocolate.


End file.
